“Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”

– Economist John Kenneth Galbraith

It had to be a big-time kick in the gut for businesses to watch many of the GOP politicians they supported with campaign contributions blithely flirt with a default on government debt.

Corporate America learned an important lesson earlier this month: All conservatives are not cut from the same cloth. Support of free-market and business-friendly policies is what businesses need from lawmakers; nearly causing an economic calamity is not.

Scott Reed, senior political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told Bloomberg News: “We are going to get engaged. The need is now more than ever to elect people who understand the free market and not silliness.”

As a newspaper that believes in limited government and free markets, we couldn’t agree more.

Like many others, we’re concerned about the growing influence of money on all points along the political spectrum. However, the mainstream business community must exert its leverage and support limited-government conservatives who will govern over anti-government conservatives who have demonstrated no inclination to do so.

Based on this debacle, a cynic might say that the business community was part of the problem. In the last two election cycles, mainstream business trade groups contributed $26.3 million to GOP lawmakers who voted against ending the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling. That’s according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics and The Washington Post. The $26.3 million is about 41 percent of the total that financial interests contributed to all Republicans in the House and Senate, the group says.

How galling must it be, for example, for the American Bankers Association to have contributed more than $2.18 million to lawmakers who ignored warnings to not flirt with a default on government debt and voted to not raise the debt ceiling? Had lawmakers caused a default, interest rates would have soared, the economy would have stalled, and the world would ask what madness has overtaken the Americans.

Those lawmakers need an economics lesson and a large dose of political courage. We hope corporate America and GOP moderates will have no patience for elected officials who dare to toy with the nation’s full faith and credit and the lifeblood of the economy. Compromise is not a swear word, and roiling global markets every few months is a very dangerous game.

This nation has a long-term debt problem that stems from generations of lawmakers of both parties inexcusably leaving the challenge to future generations to resolve. We want lawmakers to fix this long-term threat to businesses and our standard of living. Lawmakers who threaten to crash the economy every few months aren’t up to getting the job done.

Businesses need predictability in policymaking. Yes, they prefer lower taxes over higher taxes and other business-friendly policies from Washington. Most of all, businesses depend on policymakers not intentionally fomenting uncertainty and outright panic in global markets.

Big business, big GOP donors

American Bankers Association $2.18 million

Honeywell International $2.05 million

AT&T $1.92 million

National Association of Realtors $1.92 million

National Auto Dealers Association $1.65 million

Blue Cross/Blue Shield $1.45 million

Deloitte LLP $1.25 million

United Parcel Service $1.19 million

Note: Totals are for 2009-12. They include contributions to leadership PACs and candidate committees.